Our holdings include hundreds of glass and film negatives/transparencies that we've scanned ourselves; in addition, many other photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs) in the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) They are adjusted, restored and reworked by your webmaster in accordance with his aesthetic sensibilities before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here. All of these images (including "derivative works") are protected by copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions and may not be sold, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without permission.

"Untitled circa 1910-1917." Who is this boho hobo -- a tramp with a literary bent who did well in track and field? We do know that he's standing outside Bryan's Lunch Room (George F. Bryan, proprietor) at 101 B Street S.E. in Washington. Something else we know: Bryan's had a duckpin bowling team in the Capitol Hill league. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.

Untitled circa 1916. It was love at first sight. (The girl looks strangely familiar. Have we seen her before?) Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. Update: This photo appeared in the October 1916 issue of Popular Science with the caption "Preparing to examine an employee in the United States Treasury Department to determine the effect of work on the eyes." View full size.

October 1905. The New Montauk theater in Brooklyn at Livingston Street and Hanover Place. Now playing: Sam Bernard as Schmaltz in the vaudeville comedy "The Rollicking Girl." Detroit Publishing Co. glass negative. View full size.

Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.